Editor's note: This is a revised version of an earlier story.

For the past two and a half months, construction sounds have been disturbing visitors to Lake Onteora and the surrounding trails on Route 28 in the Town of Kingston. This surprised those who knew that last July, the town’s planning board had ordered a full environmental review of construction plans at the 110-acre site surrounded by the Bluestone Wild Forest. That Environmental Impact Statement is far from completed, but the mysterious noises have now been identified and shut down.

First, the background. The construction project, called 850 Route 28, is seeking approval from the Town of Kingston to build two 120,000-square-foot factories to fabricate steel and precast concrete bridge and road components. That’s why Tom Auringer, CEO of Urban Precast in Kingston and U.S. Crane and Rigging, a national company with offices in New York City, Kingston and Florida, bought the $1.6 million property three years ago.

Auringer's application for site plan approval detailed plans to clear trees and blast 405,000 tons of rock on 21 acres over the next three years, with trucks running on and off the site daily. This proposal horrified neighbors, nature lovers and environmental activists (and their consultants) who decried the plan at several public meetings and in submitted comments. They convinced the Planning Board that there were dozens of areas of concern — including air and water pollution, construction noise, harm to the habitat of rare or endangered species, the need for an archeological survey, destruction of the water table and wetlands and the disruption of the enjoyment of “officially recognized or designated public resources” — meaning the recreational trails and wilderness of the Bluestone Wild Forest, Lake Onteora and Pickerel Pond, a popular fishing site.

The board’s July 19 decision to order a detailed Environmental Impact Statement was seen as a victory, if not the final word. But while activists are incredulous that anyone would consider building two massive factories within a precious 3,000-acre protected forest, Auringer sees a perfect location to access the Thruway, just a few miles to the east. He was not dissuaded by the sure-to-be lengthy environmental review process and got a permit to store cranes and other equipment on the property, a former bluestone quarry.

Alerted to the unexpected construction sounds, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation investigated. It found stormwater runoff polluting five ponds and rockfill in a tributary to Prayhamer Brook without a required stream disturbance permit. The DEC noted a failure to obtain coverage under SPDES (State Pollution Discharge Elimination System), ordered installation of erosion and sediment controls and issued a cease-and-desist order, halting all construction work except for corrective measures.

These violations pertain to work permitted under Auringer’s equipment storage permit, not the original project.

The DEC also issued a Notice of Violation to the Town of Kingston for not implementing their local law requiring proper erosion and sediment control for construction projects. The town’s attorney Kelly Naughton says it will respond by fining the company $350 for violating the town code.

Environmentalists who have opposed 850 Route 28 for years welcome the DEC’s intervention to save natural resources. Senior Research Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper Kathy Nolan called the violations “extremely troubling” and noted that there had been clear-cutting and removal of “huge volumes” of earth and rock. Maxanne Resnick, executive director of the Woodstock Land Conservancy, says it's “insulting to the process” when regulations are ignored.

Auringer’s lawyer, Dominic Cordisco, has issued a statement stating that the company would install the mandated stormwater control measures at 850 Route 28.